Putin is counting on Russia being able to defeat Ukraine with even more soldiers. Will his war plan work out – or will the Leopard tanks arrive just in time?
It’s hell on earth: The Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has been one of the most heavily contested places in Ukraine in recent months. Many houses have been destroyed, entire streets bombed, most of the residents have long since left the city.
On many roads, the Ukrainian defenders dug trenches and set up defensive lines. The city is now a fortress that Ukraine can successfully defend. Still.
Because Russia is preparing again to take the city in the coming weeks. Putin’s perfidious plan should become apparent at the latest when the expected spring offensive begins. He wants to overrun the Ukrainian defenders and suffocate them with the sheer size of the army as long as Ukraine isn’t able to counter him with heavy combat equipment.
Did the West, including Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), react too late, delaying the delivery of tanks for too long?
The toll of blood on both sides is already high, and Bachmut has long been considered the meat grinder in this war. Military experts report battles like in the First World War. The Ukrainians are holding out in trenches, in early January at temperatures as low as minus twelve degrees, in a mixture of mud and snow.
The Russian army repeatedly sent new waves of soldiers attacking them, running into the barrage of Ukrainian barrage, and fired at the Ukrainian positions with artillery. Bakhmut has long since become a terrible symbol of the horror of the Russian war of aggression.
Has the West hesitated too long?
But the coming weeks are likely to get even worse – also because Ukraine cannot do much to counter Putin. The main battle tanks of western design are now to be delivered. However, this creates several potential problems for Ukraine:
The only hope is that the previously calculated delivery dates were often undercut by the West. It is therefore possible that the tanks will arrive earlier. Exact dates are not known, not least because the western alliance does not want to give Moscow a tactical advantage. But even then, the Ukrainian soldiers would first have to be trained on the weapon systems – which again costs valuable time.
It urgently needs ammunition
However, the problems for Ukraine do not end there. Because in addition to the much-discussed tanks themselves, the country needs one thing above all in its defensive struggle: ammunition.
What’s the use of the Ukrainian army if it has the most modern weapon systems in the country, but at the same time it can’t shoot at anything? This is already becoming clear with the Gepard anti-aircraft vehicle. Attempts by the federal government to solicit ammunition in Brazil and Switzerland, for example, were unsuccessful.
